Nintendo's President Hopes To Avoid 'Return to Arrogance'

Today Newsweek's N'Gai Croal has up an interview originally held back at E3, speaking with current President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata. The piece is an interesting look inside one of the top minds at a company that has experienced unprecedented success in the last year. In the interview, Iwata states that one of his most important tasks right now is to avoid allowing the company to appear arrogant. Just because people now assume Nintendo will succeed, he needs to make sure that's not the company's view as well. "This time, we were very lucky and very fortunate that people were accepting and positive about the introduction of the Wii Balance Board and the Wii Zapper. Now, what we have to do, what's very important for us is to make sure that when those products are actually launched, we not only meet their expectations, but we surpass them so there's that gap--we thought it was going to be this, when actually it's here. We need to create that buzz. We need to create that word of mouth and that's our challenge."

Memo to all third-party developers:

[meringuoid]

Don't worry guys. Even though we're back on top, we're not going to try to make you all our bitches like in the old days. You can feel safe developing for Wii and have nothing to fear from us.

Signed, Grand High Ultimate Iwata-sama-daioh.

Seriously, though, it's good news. If you remember what the old Nintendo were like, you'd see Sony and Microsoft's evil pale in comparison. They've had plenty of time to repent in the meantime, of course.

If they really want them accepted

[Anonymous Coward]

They need to make sure that at least 3 good games use the new devices when they come out, or shortly after. Third party help needs to be top-notch for the new peripherals. I like the balance board idea especially if it is linked to the wiimote, but SSX or Tony Hawk is never going to support it without a major push by Nintendo.

Re:Memo to all third-party developers:

[dancpsu]

I think the reason why Nintendo was so harsh to third party developers is because they believed (probably rightly) that too much crap games on a system leads to bad sales. Licensing allowed for better quality control. Of course, once developers realized the demand was for good games, and not just any crap you can push on a system, they straightened up, but Nintendo was slow to back down.

Still not listening...

[Hamster Lover]

As successful as the Wii has been, Nintendo still hasn't listened in regards to the on-line experience, which to say is nothing less than pathetic. The fact that Nintendo is steadfastly committed to the ridiculous and unwieldy "friend code" system for multiplayer games while the 360 and PS3 maintain a more workable and sensible system is probably the best example. That and the fact that just about a year after launch there are no compelling on-line games tell me that Nintendo isn't taking the Internet seriously.

"Mii Parade" and weather updates aren't going to cut it as an on-line experience these days.

Re:Still not listening... or to who?

[WillAffleckUW]

Not listening to you, maybe.

They're listening to me just fine: If I want online play, I'll play WoW. I have zero interest in online from my console, and I want them to spend that money instead on things I do want.

Hmmm. I also play WoW online, but I think they are listening to me about how to do online.

I like the idea of having to know someone's friend code to be able to talk with them online, and to visit their Animal Crossing II for the Wii village or their My Sims for the Wii village.

One thing I really hate are spammers and shock-jocks and curse monkeys online. If it means that I only play with friends - or at least go to a test area and make sure they are ok before I exchange friend codes with them - I am all for that.

Re:Memo to all third-party developers:

[king-manic]

How could you possibly believe that is right? Just look at the PS2...it has tons of crappy games...but it also has tons of great games. Let the people choose what they want to play...and the one with the most choices is going to do well. Bad games didn't ruin the Gamecube, that's for sure. Nintendo is much less strict now and many games coming out for the Wii are being rated extremely low. While not good for consumers, it is better for Nintendo to give more people a chance. Though the initial sales has more to do with the Wii's price than game line up at this point. And the fact that it is in so many homes will make developers want to make more games for it.

That is relative. The bar has raised but compare any random crap game today to any game in the atari era and objectives it is better. It's not just technology but in fact our expectations have risen. It's still the 20% gems to 80% garbage ratio but todays garbage would have been yesterdays gem if released with the same hardware 15 years ago.

Games are more responsive, more engaging, less repetitive, and prettier. Often with a much better story as well.

Re:That word...

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"How is it "unprecedented"? Nintendo have had remarkable success before and sustained it for longer periods than a year. So have others in the industry."

There's a couple of possibilities:

1. The Wii has broken sales records.

2. The Wii is a surprise hit. Whereas the SNES was considered a shoe-in. Its success didn't surprise anybody.

Re:Nintendo's arrogance

[meringuoid]

Let alone, how similar was Super Mario Bros. 2 to Super Mario Bros. 3?!

Not very similar at all, but it was very similar to Super Mario Bros. 1. Except ridiculously hard, so they wouldn't let us incompetent gaijin get our hands on it and fobbed us off with a rebranded reissue of bloody Doki Doki Panic. Which as it turned out wasn't actually a bad game at all.

Re:Still not listening... or to who?

[rjung2k]

+1 to WillAffeckUW -- unlike the grandparent post, some of us are parents who are glad that Nintendo is making it harder for my family to get harangued by foul-mouthed 10-year-olds who think drawing penises is the height of comedy. Entering a friend code once is a minor inconvenience in comparison to dealing with the endless supply of twits who show up on XBox Live.